System and method for monitoring thermal ablation using radiofrequency echoes

摘要

Radiofrequency energy emitted from and reflected back toward a thermal ablation probe may be used to detect a gradual dissolution of a reflective interface between a tumor and surrounding healthy tissue as the ablation zone passes through this interface providing a real-time guidance with respect to the progress of ablation.

主权项

1. An ablation apparatus comprising:
a probe adapted for percutaneous insertion of a distal end of the probe through tissue for disruption of a tumor within the tissue; a transmitting circuit adapted to communicate with the probe when the latter is inserted into tissue to transmit a measurement radiofrequency signal from the distal end of the probe; a receiving circuit adapted to communicate with the probe to receive an echo of the measurement radio frequency signal caused by dielectric boundaries; and a processing circuit including an electronic computer configured to execute a program stored in a non-transient medium and configured to operate to process the echo during ablative procedure to track a boundary of the disruption by (i) using the echo to develop a tumor-free echo modeling the tissue under ablation to provide an ablation boundary echo but not an echo from a tumor-healthy tissue boundary, (ii) subtracting the tumor-free echo from the echo to provide a tumor-healthy tissue echo, and (iii) using the tumor-healthy tissue echo to provide an output indicating passage of an ablation boundary past a tumor-healthy tissue boundary.